ODNR director briefs House committee on parks upgrades, H2Ohio work and ramped orphan‑well plugging

Director Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, told the House Natural Resources Committee that the agency is pressing ahead on large parks investments, H2Ohio natural‑infrastructure projects and an expanded program to plug orphan oil and gas wells.

The presentation gave lawmakers a high‑level overview of ODNR’s structure and workload and included specific program updates the agency said have budget and public‑safety implications. “We doubled the number of wells that we plugged last year,” Mertz said, and the agency has set higher goals for the coming years while working through contractor capacity and funding constraints.

ODNR overview and agency scale: Mertz said ODNR manages extensive lands and programs including 76 state parks, 24 state forests, 147 state nature preserves and 189 wildlife areas. She said the agency employs roughly 2,500–2,600 people at the height of the summer season and maintains a presence in every county, including at least one wildlife officer assigned to each county. Mertz told the committee ODNR issued about 850,000 fishing licenses and 360,000 hunting licenses last year; registered about 630,000 watercraft (including roughly 330,000 paddle craft); and that ODNR…